“... we have been using your LSA’s for some time and find them invaluable. Teachers are becoming much more up for using the group profiles and finding out how their pupils learn best. I am now reassessing a whole year group - they were assessed as they came into the school in Year 7 and now as they enter Yr 12 will be assessed again. This should provide some interesting info as well as prove invaluable in their personal learning.” ~ Frances Green, UK Principal

 

As a school principal, have you ever wondered:

 

·       Why is it that the same group of students will behave perfectly with one teacher but act up in front of another one?

·       Why are some classes notorious as “the bad” ones?

·       How do schools cope in the face of growing student diversity?

 

Every student has a unique Learning Style. Every class has a unique Group Profile. Every teacher has his or her unique Teaching Style. It’s as simple as that. When it comes to student discipline and performance, it’s all a matter of matches and mismatches between the students and the teachers.

 

While some principals use the teachers’ teaching style to decide which teacher should teach which group of kids, most schools don’t have that luxury. What they do instead is compare the teacher’s teaching style to the group profile of the class once they've assigned teachers and classes - in order to determine what the potential areas of tension might be.

 

For example:

·        The teacher functions best under bright light, but 80% of that class's students need dim light to concentrate.

·        The teacher is an analytic while the class is holistic.

·        The teacher teaches visually, the students learn best kinaesthetically.

Once the school knows where the mismatch lies, they can put preventative measures in place to avoid conflict. In the examples above, the following solutions could be implemented:

·        The teacher uses a desk light which only lights up her area.

·        The teacher, aware of her analytic style and the students' holistic one, plans lessons in a way that caters to the needs of the students, e.g., starts with objectives and goals, uses anecdotes, etc.

·        The visual teacher gets ideas about kinesthetic methods of teaching from colleagues, web and CLS.

 

It’s important to note, though, that the teaching style analysis tool (TSA) is not an evaluation tool of the teacher or the teacher’s skills. It is a diagnostic tool to help the teacher understand the diversity in the classroom.

 

TSA enables teachers to use their strengths and the strengths of their students in order to avoid conflict and create a fun place for learning.

 

 

 

A group profile is a summary of all the learning strengths and flexibilities in your class. It explains what makes pupils:

·        misbehave,

·        fail to do their homework,

·        do poorly in tests,

·        hand in their projects late.

 

Creative Learning instruments for assessing Learning Styles identify 48 learning elements. That’s a lot of information to remember per student! Group Profiles give teachers a snapshot of their students’ learning needs and pitfalls.

 

 

 

·        Noise tolerance?

·        Optimal time of day?

·        Need for variety?

·        Light intensity in the classroom?

·        Order versus creative chaos?

·        Motivation?